Helicopters have become quite useful and reliable as specialized lifting vehicles and have been used for construction projects, hauling freight for short distances and, to a limited extent, for lifting fallen logs out of the forest, particularly where there are not convenient logging roads. Recent interest in minimizing damage to the environment has made it particularly of interest to avoid creating excessive numbers of logging roads or damaging the terrain or adjacent trees by hauling the fallen logs out of the woods as by tractors or skidder-type vehicles. While helicopters can be used for this purpose, they are quite expensive to operate and have a limited payload, making their use economically marginal at best. For this reason, tethered balloons have been tried with some limited success. Balloons, of course, suffer somewhat from lack of controllability and long lines or cables are required for tethering. Applicants are aware of designs in which lighter-than-air structures are associated with helicopters to improve the payload, one such design being the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 3,083,934. To the knowledge of applicants, no such designs have resulted in commercially acceptable aircraft. With the recent substantial increases in the price of fuel, there is now considerable need for an airborne cargo carrier which can carry substantial loads at reasonable speeds with reasonable fuel costs, controllability, and safety.